Now that summer is coming to a close you will have a lot of pictures from your vacations. While buying frames for all of them can get cluttered and expensive, using a French bulletin board can be a fun project to show off pictures.
Here’s what you need to start:
• Corkboard of any size
• Fabric piece to cover the board snugly
• ¼ inch foam, to cover the board
• Decorative ribbon (amount will vary depending how small you want the pattern to be and size of your board.
• Staple gun (glue can also work, but it will be difficult)
• Buttons (optional)
Lay your corkboard on a flat surface. Center the foam on the board, and place your fabric on top. When you flip the board over, staple the foam and fabric to the back on one side. Pull tightly on the other, and staple. Do this for all four sides so you have a smooth fabric surface with the foam underneath. If gluing, glue one side of the fabric and foam down to the back, using clothespins or other clamps to hold it tight until the glue has completely dried. After totally dry (totally dry is important here, we don’t want it pulling up with our immense strength, do we?) pull the fabric tightly over to the other side, and glue down, again using clamps to hold it tight while drying. It is recommended you use a staple gun, as you don’t have to wait for dry time and it can give a stronger bond. Take care not to have any lumps in the fabric when finished. Now, begin to lie out how you want your ribbon. You can really create any kind of pattern with it; a diamond pattern out of crisscrossing ribbon is a popular one. Just take care yo ensure the ribbon is evenly spaced to ensure a uniform design. Staple both ends of the ribbon to the back of the board when you have finalized your design. You can leave your board like this, or if you like the plush look, staple each intersection of ribbon to the board from the front, leaving small indentations in the surface. Over each staple, glue a button to hide the staple and provide a lovely finish to your board. You can now simply place each photograph under the ribbon to hold it up, and display the picture of your summer vacation.
Beverly’s is located at 19150 Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country. For more information, please visit www.beverlys.com .